Gold Coast Suns · 3 notes
Hawthorn's number one priority was high-end talent, Mark McKenzie said, and it landed Zachary Merrett, traded from Essendon on the first official day of the trade period, and free agent Ben King: "He's kicked 60-plus goals over the last 3 years."
Aidan Schubert was "certainly a priority" once Ben King looked set to exercise his free agency, Gold Coast's Kall Burns said, a fit for Damien Hardwick's system. Sam Butler joins him from Hawthorn. "That was it for us." At pick 8, he expects "a really good player."
Landing Zach Merrett and Ben King is why Aidan Schubert and Sam Butler went to Gold Coast, Hawthorn's Rob McCartney said: it "leads to conversations about our depth and players maybe wanting greater opportunity." With Calsher Dear re-signed, Schubert would still be developing.